Talk:Explosive-metal bomb
The terms Explosive-metal bomb and atomic/nuclear bombs are used interchangeably within the Worldwar articles. This has led Jonathan to use the Explosive-metal bomb redirect even when the article says Atomic bomb and uses the Atomic bomb (Worldwar) redirect. He has also been changing existing references to atomic bombs to explosive-metal bombs. I believe we need to standardize this with atomic bomb used when referencing human weapons and explosive-metal when its a Race weapon. Thoughts? ML4E (talk) 17:22, April 5, 2016 (UTC) :By Colonization, both "atomic bombs" and "explosive-metal bombs" had entered human vernacular, and were used interchangeably. The Race used atomic amongst themselves, but I think used "explosive-metal" when dealing with humans. :So this is one of those instances where we can't quite standardize, since there wasn't really a "standard". TR (talk) 17:35, April 5, 2016 (UTC) ::It is a tough one. I often wish Jonathan had never figured out redirects, but in this case our policy of in-universe writing leads me to take his side, albeit reluctantly. Turtle Fan (talk) 23:56, April 5, 2016 (UTC) All right, I'll take your word for it since I haven't read the series. However, I still have a number of problems with what Jonathan has been doing: # He has been replacing both hard coded and "Atomic bomb (Worldwar)" redirects with "explosive-metal bombs" while leaving the article reading "atomic bombs". This reminds me of the nonsense with substituting "Radical Liberal Louisiana" for "Louisiana (Southern Victory)" that continued until we had to delete that redirect. # In some cases he has also been changing "atomic" or "nuclear bombs" to straight up "explosive-metal bombs". Now, from what you say, using one or the other is somewhat arbitrary but I believe that should not be done without a reason from the novels. Case in point was George Patton (Worldwar) where we have a direct quote stating "atomic weapon" but with "explosive-metal bombs" as the hidden, new redirect. In addition, in the article itself, the reference to "atomic bomb" with the appropriate redirect had been changed to "explosive-metal bombs". This will not do and illustrates the arbitrary and non-canonical changes he has been making. # While standardization may not be possible, I believe some guidelines are still possible. Race references would tend to "explosive-metal bombs" given their alien nature. With humans, the U.S. would have had the Manhattan Project well underway prior to the POD so senior Americans (like Patton) would tend to refer to atomic bombs rather than use Race terminology. I am unsure what should be done with other humans but will be interested in any suggestions. ML4E (talk) 17:16, April 6, 2016 (UTC) ::I guess we could insist that, as far as terrestrial bombs go, "explosive-metal" only ever be applied to weapons that appear from SC on. "Explosive-metal" was creeping into the vernacular before that, but that makes such a convenient delineation mark that it's worth the slight fudge factor. I agree that it's fine always referring to bombs from Tau Ceti as "explosive-metal" since that seems to be the closest (or at least most literal) translation to their name in Lizardese. Turtle Fan (talk) 22:07, April 6, 2016 (UTC)